News & Updates

February 18, 2019:
Did you know that our event at Iowa Speeday this July is open to all vintage Indycars, Champ Cars, Sprint Cars, F5000s, Supermodifieds, Indy Lights, Mini Indys and Super Vees? It's true! And did you know that we're offering the option of a Friday & Saturday entry and a Saturday-only entry? Also true! Any questions can be directed to Gary Mondschein at the Classic Racing Times, phone 570-656-5962.

January 31, 2019:
Registration is now OPEN for our 2019 events at Iowa Speedway and Pocono Raceway. Check the links on our home page or use the buttons at left to learn more!

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January 15, 2019:
The Classic Racing Times' annual "Racers' Luncheon," originally scheduled for February 6, 2019, has been cancelled. Unforeseen scheduling conflicts have made this necessary, and we apologize for any inconvenience. As everyone knows, sometimes life gets in the way!

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June 28, 2018:
Bobby Rahal, a three-time Indy Car champion and winner of the 1986 Indianapolis 500, will be among the featured guests at the 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono August 17-18-19.

Rahal, who today is co-owner of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing team along with TV personality David Letterman and industrialist Michael Lanigan, will be greeting fans during the Classic Racing Times’ “Autograph Alley” on Saturday, August 18, alongside others including Super Bowl winning coach Dick Vermeil, and Hall of Fame Indycar mechanic Jim McGee.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan fields two cars in the Verizon Indycar Series with Rahal’s son, Graham, and 2017 Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato as the drivers. Busy all weekend with his race team, Rahal will be mingling with vintage teams and fans in the vintage garage area as his schedule permits.

Among Bobby Rahal’s 24 Indycar victories is the 1988 Quaker State 500 at Pocono, so the 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono will highlight the 30th anniversary of Rahal delivering the only victory for the Judd Indycar engine.

Additional information regarding the 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono can be found by clicking the "Pocono 2018" button at left.

June 20, 2018:
The Vintage Indycar program of the Classic Racing Times is coming to Iowa Speedway in 2019, with an introductory demonstration this July in conjunction with the Verizon Indycar Series Iowa Corn 300, according to an announcement by Classic Racing Times CEO Gary Mondschein.

By agreement with Iowa Speedway President David Hyatt, Mondschein has announced that a full on-track program for the Vintage Indycars, Champ Cars, Sprint Cars, Supermodifieds and other vintage open-wheel classes will be on the Iowa schedule for 2019, the exact date pending confirmation of the 2019 Indycar Series schedule.

In preparation for the event, Hyatt and Mondschein have contracted for an introductory demonstration during the upcoming July 7-8 weekend for the Verizon Indycar Series, with a representative sampling of vintage cars to be on hand to take laps on the track and be available for viewing by the fans.

“The 2019 event will be patterned after our successful events at ISM Raceway in Phoenix,” Mondschein said, “and will make the sights and sounds of racing’s history available to an entirely new audience at Iowa.” In addition to the established Phoenix event, the Classic Racing Times’ signature event is the Vintage Celebration at Pocono, coming up on the weekend of August 17-18-19.

Located in Newton, Iowa, 30 miles east of Des Moines, Iowa Speedway is a unique 7/8-mile oval that, in addition the being host to the Verizon Indycar Series each year, presents races by the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, and the ARCA Racing Series.

June 15, 2018:
Dick Vermeil, who led the Philadelphia Eagles to their first Super Bowl and who won Super Bowl XXXIV with the St. Louis Rams, will be participating in the 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono, presented by the Classic Racing Times August 17-18-19 in conjunction with the Verizon Indycar Series’ ABC Supply 500.

While Vermeil is a highly-respected former NFL head coach he has deep roots in racing. He is a native of California’s Napa Valley and his father, Louie Vermeil, fielded cars extensively in the region and is remembered each year with the Louie Vermeil Classic at Calistoga Speedway. The elder Vermeil is held in such high regard that today the Calistoga Speedway logo includes the tagline, “Home of Louie Vermeil.”

Coach Vermeil owns and has restored two of his father’s dirt-track race cars, one of which was built in 1926 by Al Bignotti, brother of George, and which he has exhibited at the Louie Vermeil Classic and entered in vintage events such as the Hershey Hill Climb. Vermeil performed most of the restoration work himself, farming out only such things as plating the brightwork. It is this car, jet black in color and numbered 7, and powered by a Model “A” Ford engine with a Miller Schofield overhead valve cylinder head, that Vermeil will be bringing to Pocono.

At Pocono Dick Vermeil will join owners of upwards of four dozen vintage race cars, including, for the first time this year, historic stock cars which will get their own on-track sessions as do the Indy cars, Champ cars, and Sprint cars. Other guests scheduled to be on hand as part of the event include Modified and NASCAR great Geoff Bodine and Hall of Fame Indycar mechanic Jim McGee.

The 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono will also include events on 1/5-mile oval laid out on the massive front straightaway of the 2.5-mile “Tricky Triangle,” with exhibition laps for vintage Midgets plus wheel-to-wheel racing for modern and vintage TQ Midgets, Slingshots, Microstocks and Champ Karts.

June 13, 2018:
Drew Fornoro, inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame earlier this year, has been named as the Grand Marshal for the 1/5-mile oval track events being presented by the Classic Racing Times as part of the 2018 Vintage Celebration at Pocono August 17-18-19, in conjunction with the Verizon Indycar Series’ ABC Supply 500.

A nine-time NEMA Midget champion and topping the NEMA all-time win list with 85 victories, at Pocono Drew will not only oversee the racing action Friday and Saturday evenings on the 1/5-mile oval set up at the pit exit end of the main straightaway of the Pocono “Tricky Triangle,” he will also participate in the Classic Racing Times’ “autograph alley” alongside other greats from Indycar, NASCAR, and regional racing.

In 2013 Drew joined his late father, Nick Fornoro, Sr., in the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame, and in January he was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, where he also joins his father. The Senior Fornoro was himself a Midget racing champion and afterward the Chief Starter for the CART Champ Car series.

In addition to his impressive win list in the NEMA Midgets, Drew has 20 victories to his credit in the ARDC Midgets, as well as three in the USAC National Midget series.

A New Jersey native, Drew began his racing career in TQ Midgets at New Jersey’s Pine Brook Speedway, where he continued to race even as he was amassing his impressive career stats elsewhere. His wife, Anne, is the daughter of Midget racing great Russ Klar, and has since 1985 she has been the media representative for A.J. Foyt Racing. Drew is the older brother of Nick “Nokie” Fornoro, who, as a prolific winner in ARDC, NEMA, and USAC Midget racing, is himself likely a future inductee in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

The events on the Pocono 1/5-mile will include exhibition laps for vintage Midgets, as well as wheel-to-wheel racing for modern and vintage TQ Midgets, Slingshots, Microstocks and Champ Karts. Following a successful first event in 2017, enhancements are being made for this year, including lighting for racing beyond dusk.

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May 9, 2018:
We have added an "Online Store" page to this web site! It's just a beginning, because we wil be adding the complete array of e-commerce features (product selection, online ordering, credit card processing) in the coming weeks. Right now you can take a look at our first offering, stylish and cool Classic Racing Times shirts! Check 'em out by clicking here!